Wednesday, March 23, 2016

There Will Be No Jaguar XK Successor, Land Rover Won’t Chase Bentley

–

With the F-type SVR now sitting at the top of Jaguar’s lineup, the automaker has abandoned plans to build a flagship coupe. The car that once occupied that slot, the XK, ended production for the 2015 model year.

–

When we spoke with chief designer Ian Callum last May, Jaguar was mulling over a couple of options: a larger, more expensive car derived from the F-type or a four-seat XJ-based coupe. But now that the 575-hp F-type SVR is the “pinnacle” of the company’s range, selling two high-end coupes side by side won’t work, according to Jaguar Land Rover North America CEO Joe Eberhardt.

–

The core of the luxury market, says Eberhardt, is in the $35,000-to-$125,000 range. Introducing a vehicle above that price range, especially as more ultra-luxury coupes crowd the market, wouldn’t help Jaguar as it tries to double sales this year, he said.

–

At the moment, the F-type and XJ each sell roughly 400 copies a month in the U.S. Eberhardt claims he’s happy with those numbers, noting they’re the ends of a “pyramid” sandwiching what Jaguar hopes will be heavy growth from its volume models: the XE, XF, and F-Pace. Additional models will be considered, but nothing will slot below the XE.

Unlike Jaguar, which is struggling to shake off decades of poor reliability, Land Rover has no plans to offer a five-year warranty or five-year scheduled maintenance. For most customers buying Range Rovers service costs are a rather minor concern. Eberhardt said that despite Land Rover’s low reliability rankings, buyers see these big trucks as more dependable than a Jaguar, even though Jaguar has outscored Land Rover in every major quality survey.